With the last batch of winners now crowned, the 55th Annual World Series of Poker has come to an end at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Running from May 28 to July 17, 2024, a total of 99 bracelets were claimed with one of the last ones snatched by Taiwan’s Ching Da Wu at The Closer event. Other Asian players also ran deep towards the end, we’ve got those stories for you below.
Final Events of 2024 WSOP
Taiwan”s Ching Da Wu Scores A WSOP Bracelet.
During the las days of the series, the big WSOP bracelet breakthrough came from Taiwan’s Ching Da Wu who won his first WSOP bracelet in the second to the last event of the series – the $1,500 The Closer – NLHE.
Wu describes winning the bracelet as a profound honor and the entire experience as nothing short of exhilarating. At first, he had some self-doubt as the players he was up against had very serious poker portfolios. With the likes of multi-bracelet winner John Racener in the same final table.
Wu went on a tear to eliminate most of the finalists, even taking out Mario Colavita (2nd) and Bogdan Munteanu (3rd) in one final hand to win the bracelet. Wu had pocket aces that dominated and held in a three-way all-in.
This win is so far the biggest in Wu’s career. It also marks only his 5th WSOP career cash. Along with the bracelet, Wu earned the biggest payout of $525,500.
Other Deep Runs By Asian Players
Thailand’s Punnat Punsri made a runner-up finish earlier in the $5,000 NLHE 8-Handed for a little over $500 million. At the tail end of the series, Punsri also bagged another six-figure payout for a 25th place finish in the $50,000 High Roller NLHE, and cashed in at the $10,000 NLHE Championship 6-Handed, squeezing in nine overall cashes.
There were also two Asian poker pros in the final table of the $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty NLHE. Japan’s Akinobu Maeda and India’s Ankit Ahuja were among the last standing in a field of 1,119 entries with a seat at the final table, inching their way to WSOP jewelry.
However, Maeda only managed an 8th place finish this event, earning a decent $33,006. Maeda already played a final table earlier this series, finishing 3rd at the $3000 NLHE 6-handed for a WSOP career high cash of $238,886. This marks Maeda’s 7th WSOP cash, all coming from this festival.
Ahuja has had more WSOP experience, making his first WSOP cash back in 2016. Ahuja is a gaming software product manager and one of India’s top poker pros with over $2.7 million in live earnings. While a WSOP bracelet would look good on Ahuja’s portfolio, he had to settle for a 5th place finish for $77,787.
Some Asian poker pros made some noise in the $777 Lucky 7’s NLHE. Because of the event’s affordability, there were 6,292 entries that created a prize pool of $4,302,218. Three Day One flights saw Filipino poker player Marc Rivera as the highest chip leader entering Day 2. However, Marc Rivera was only able to make it as far as 34th place for a payout of $14,030. It’s his biggest cash this 2024 WSOP series and his 13th career overall.
China’s Yilong Wang came in at 22nd for a payout of $17,530, making nine cashes in this 2024 series. Taiwanese poker pro Tao Wei Chang, cashed for the same amount as Rivera at 29th place. Singapore’s Dongying Ling had the more magnificent run but busted out at 9th place just before the final table was formed. Ling earned $46,542 for his efforts which was his only cash this year.
WSOP bracelet holder James Chen eyed another WSOP bracelet in his sights in the $10,000 NLHE 6-Handed Championship. Chen was the chip leader in Day 1, but had to settle for a 10th place finish, earning his share of $60,315 from the $3,887,400 prize pool.
WSOP bracelet winner Hok Yiu Lee of Hong Kong was close to another bracelet in the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha 6-handed. Lee ran deep up in 4th place for an $86,709 payday. This is Lee’s 12th WSOP cash with over half coming from PLO events.
Chinese WSOP bracelet winner Dong Chen came close twice this series. Chen made the final table both in the $3,000 Mid-Stakes NLHE Championship and in the $1,000 Super Turbo NLHE, which was the final event of the series. He busted out at 8th place for a $22,448 payday at the $1,000 Super Turbo NLHE and came up with a 4th place finish for the $3,000 Mid-Stakes NLHE for a $388,519 cash out.
Chen cashed in seven times this series and has 29 WSOP cashes overall, including a WSOP bracelet he won last year at the $10,000 High Roller No-Limit 6-Handed.
*Article by JJ Duque
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